Assuming you’re searching for some Halloween outfit motivation, look no farther than the October television plan. From the privateers of Our Banner Means Demise, which returns for Season 2 at the highest point of the month, to Omar Sy’s courteous fellow hoodlum from Lupin, which will before long be back for a third season, to the fashionable socialites of The Overlaid Age, which is equipping to debut its subsequent season, you have a lot to work with, even in a month that is in fact a little light on programming.
Our manual for the best television in October is separated into three segments: the best shows and films to watch this month, the best shows to watch by real time feature, and a schedule of television features. Anything that you’re searching for, you’ll track down it beneath.
The best shows and movies to watch in October
Our Flag Means Death Season 2 (Oct. 5, Max)
It’s time to set sail again. The David Jenkins-created pirate comedy became a sleeper hit when it premiered in 2022, developing a voracious fan base thanks in no small part to the unexpected friendship turned romance between affluent gentleman swashbuckler Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) and infamous bad boy Blackbeard (Taika Waititi). The end of Season 1 saw their relationship torpedoing before it could even really begin, leaving them both heartbroken as Season 2 begins. As they set off in their own separate directions, Stede keeps busy by captaining The Revenge while Blackbeard is wreaking havoc wherever he goes. Ah, pirate love.
Bargain (Oct. 5, Paramount+)
When Noh Hyung-soo (Jin Sun-kyu) stepped into a hotel room to meet Park Joo-young (Jun Jong-seo), the last thing he expected was to be blindfolded, tied up, and have his body parts auctioned off. Joo-young helps run a human organ trafficking ring, and Hyung-soo is her latest victim. As if this predicament isn’t unfortunate enough, Hyung-soo is hit with another disaster: An earthquake strikes, and he’s now trapped in a building with hungry buyers who were vying for his kidney just moments earlier. The Korean drama Bargain, which adapts a short film of the same name from 2015, promises to deliver a horrific punch to the gut. It’s already collected accolades including Best Screenplay at Canneseries Festival, and gained more critical recognition with its North American premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
Lupin Season 3 (Oct. 5, Netflix)
Staying undercover is an easy task for Assane Diop (Omar Sy): He’s a seasoned gentleman thief and the master of disguises, after all. But keeping out of the public eye may prove a little more challenging when he’s the most wanted man in France. That’s the case for Assane in Lupin Season 3, thanks to his sworn nemesis Hubert Pellegrini (Hervé Pierre) who framed him for murder. The first two seasons were most delightful to watch when Assane suavely deceived the rich and the powerful and swiftly evaded their pursuit. He is like a magician with a neverending arsenal of tricks, and the curtains are about to rise for what’s bound to be a mesmerizing third act.
Totally Killer (Oct. 6, Prime Video)
October is the month when streaming services put out a bunch of horror films, and every year we all get excited for them only to be disappointed when the films end up being bad. It happens every time without fail, no matter how often we delude ourselves into thinking that maybe this is the year it will change. But (Tobias Funke voice) maybe this year will be different. This Blumhouse comedy-horror film from Nahnatchka Khan (Always Be My Maybe) stars Kiernan Shipka as Jamie, a teen who travels back in time to 1987 to stop a murderous rampage before it happens. And it actually looks kind of good! As a bonus, this one also stars the great Olivia Holt as Jamie’s teenage mom.
The Fall of the House of Usher (Oct. 12, Netflix)
If anyone can adapt one of Edgar Allan Poe’s timeless works, it’s Mike Flanagan. The mind behind Netflix’s recent string of atmospheric and eerie horror hits The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass, Flanagan is rounding up his recurring band of actors to stage a modern take on Poe’s 1839 classic The Fall of the House of Usher. But rumor has it the series will also lean into other Poe properties, evidenced by the “Nevermore” tagline and Carla Gugino’s ominous raven-inspired shapeshifting demon. The series will seemingly take inspiration from the infamous Sackler family for the story of the ruthless Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood), founder of Fortunato Pharmaceuticals, who must face his past when his heirs start to die at the hands of a mysterious figure. In other words, this Halloween’s theme is karma.
Lessons in Chemistry (Oct. 13, Apple TV+)
Brie Larson leads this 1950s period piece, developed by Lee Eisenberg and based on the novel by Bonnie Garmus, about a chemist fighting an uphill battle to be taken seriously as a woman in her field. When she’s fired from her lab, she takes a job hosting a TV cooking show, where her no-nonsense attitude and scientific know-how make her a hero for housewives across the nation. The cast also includes Lewis Pullman as a fellow scientist; the two of them might share some chemistry.
Shoresy Season 2 (Oct. 27, Hulu)
I’ve watched Season 1 of Shoresy four times. (Relax, it’s only six episodes long.) That’s a nod to my love of the series, but also to the layered, rapid fire humor that takes multiple viewings to truly wrap one’s head around. Creator, star, and bona fide TV genius Jared Keeso took the formula he crafted that made Letterkenny so popular and applied it to a serialized comedy about a bunch of hockey doofuses in northern Canada that shows the true love of sport and team camaraderie better than any sports comedy before it (looking right through you, Ted Lasso). There aren’t many shows that can start with gags about taking a crap in a lake (an aquadump, in the show’s parlance) and then leave you bawling as an epic season on the rink comes to a close. All of Shoresy’s juvenile humor wouldn’t mean much without what truly scores for Shoresy: the unfettered appreciation of emotion, whether it be the anticipation of the drop of the puck, the adrenaline of an on-ice brawl, or the swell of a town rallying around a squad of toothless goons. Unwrap a ‘stick and get ready to watch Season 2 four times.
Fellow Travelers (Oct. 27, Showtime)
An intense, decades-spanning romance anchors Fellow Travelers. Hawkins Fuller (Matt Bomer) is a slick charmer who advances his career in politics by keeping his private life locked up tight; Tim Laughlin (Jonathan Bailey) is the eager young idealist who gets under his skin, just as Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn kick off their Lavender Scare crusade against “subversives and sexual deviants” in the government. Created by Oscar nominee Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia) and based on Thomas Mallon’s novel of the same name, the historical limited series stretches from the height of 1950s McCarthyism to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, chronicling a period of American history that is both unique and threatening to repeat itself.
The Gilded Age Season 2 (Oct. 29, HBO)
Great gowns, beautiful gowns. TV’s most deliciously low-stakes spectacle is back, with all of our favorite actors — Carrie Coon! Christine Baranski! Nathan Lane! — returning for another season of high society sniping. Season 2 includes such scandalous issues as Bertha (Coon) being rejected for a box at the Academy of Music, Marian (Louisa Jacobson) secretly teaching at a school for girls, and Ada (Cynthia Nixon) beginning a saucy new courtship. You’ll gasp, you’ll titter, you’ll start bookmarking photos of fascinators.
